Look at this
JR east train map. Green smack dab in the middle of a Tokyo train map is the circular Yamanote line, running through twenty-nine stations including Tokyo, Shibuya, Harajuku, and Shinjuku. Yamanote has no beginning and no end, but runs in a continuous circle. During the morning rush it runs in two-minute intervals. When an accident occurs every train has to stop dead in its tracks, hence conductors operating on the Yamanote line are said to be of JR's elite group.
Not too long ago, my co-workers and I walked the circumference of the Yamanote line. Some people try this as a sort of small challenge. You may find some internet sites have reported that completing the journey around the Yamanote circuit has been considered somewhat of a 'small feat'.
"Why walk around Yamanote?". Hmm because I want to test my endurance, youthfulness, and see if I still have the guts to pull it off. Actually, two years ago it took me 12 hours to complete the Yamanote challenge. This next time around I want to break my own record.
Yamanote Walking Rules
Yamanote line has 29 stations, about 40kms way. We start and finish in Shinjuku. There are no specific rules or routes to take, but you must take pictures of each station along the Yamanote for proof, and stay as close to the railroad as possible. I found this interesting site which you can watch every Yamanote station wiht direct 360 view. Good tool for guide.
On April 3rd at 7:08am, wedenesday morning
The participants are "Prince excel" (he loves MS excell) and "Miho" and myself. On April 3rd at 7:00am we met at Shinjuku station and headed for Yoyogi station.
7:08 - Shinjuku
Departure from Shinjuku station. The early morning view of the skyscrapers were nice. Miho smilies. She said it would be no problem to walk around Yamanote line, " I am tough enough, make it less than 10 hours! ". Okay if you say so....
7:24 - Yoyogi
Yoyogi area is famous for Yoyogi park and some prep schools.
7:45 - Harajuku
Fashion city. And I would say it's toy box.
8:07 - Shibuya
Young people's town. At Shibuya station stands a statue of the loyal dog Hachiko, who waited for his master everyday in front of the station, even after his death, some seventy years ago. Hachiko has become synonymous with Shibuya. Actually, when my grandmother was a schoolgirl she watched Hachiko everyday.
On the main street Centre-Gai Yamamba girls(or gangro) in horrifying make-up loiter about. Not long ago this trend faded away, only recently has it risen from the dead.!
8:54 - Ebisu
Many foreigners are seen here. Near the fashion shops of Daikan-yama, Ebisu also has many terrific restaurants, bars. I always make a point of stopping in Ebisu.
9:27 - Meguro
Meguro is the nearest station to my workplace. The Tokyo Metropolitan Teien Art Museum's art deco building is a sight for sore eyes. We ate a bagel breakfast at the news Deli.
10:21 - Gotanda
Meguro-gawa which is the dirtiest river in Tokyo, flows between rows of cherry trees in full bloom. Recently the river's condition has improved I heard.
Tokyo desing center is in this area
When we walked, the drink was a key point. I choosed to drink this 903. New sports drink which Kirin made with Adidas Japan. It works for lactic acid. Lactic acid is the reason of for muscle fatigue. This seemed to be a good choice for me, I would know it later.
10:43 - Osaki
Sony's head office is located in Osaki. There was nothing before, but now Osaki area is developing. Osaki Gate City is nice place to eat, there is small Irish pub.
11:15 - Shinagawa
During the Edo period, the most important way to link Tokyo with Osaka was 'Tokaido' that starts from Nihonbashi, and the first post station was here, Shinagawa. There were 53 posts calledTokaido 53Tsugi on the way to Osaka from Tokyo. The Shinagawa area still retains traces of the era. In last a few years, Shinagawa has changed. In side station, there is ecute. And next to the station there is atre Shinagawa which has many restaurants and big supermarket.
11:55 - Tamachi
Keio University is nearby.
Around Tamachi, Prince Excel began to feel some pain in his knees. He could hardly make it down a flight of stairs. "Come on man, we've barely begun". This had just begun, still there was long way to home !
12:22 - Hamamatsu-cho
Haneda airport monorail departs from here, the World Trade Centre building is here. Hamamatsu-cho is one of the stations nearest to Tokyo Tower.
12:51 - Shinbashi
Yurikamome, the monorail to Odaiba, leaves from Shinbashi. Shiodome is one of Tokyo's newest area which has spectacular skyscrapers accommodate many offices, the headquarters of Nippon Television and a large variety of shops, cafes, restaurants, theaters and hotels.
13:20 - Yuraku-cho
Yuraku-cho is the closest station to the Ginza district infamous for shopping, with an abundance of well-established shops and department stores.
When we walked, only the time to eat was a sort of pleasure. We wanted it after we walked over half of the way as a "Reward for a good job". So we did not take lunch yet. But is was past 13:00 already. We knew we were so behind schedule.
13:34 - Tokyo
Tokyo station is a charming old building made from red brick. The main station consists of 10 platforms, serving 20 tracks, and they have Shinkansen too. This is the largest in Japan. In the shop you can buy various type of Ekiben, even special one of local area. The Imperial
Palace is only a 5-minute walk away.
14:10 - Kanda
An area notorious for its main strip of second-hand bookstores. Sushi item of Kanda Edokko Sushi is the sushi shop I used to go. Each item is very big.
14:32 - Akihabara
The wold wide famous electrical town. We call "AKIBA". Recently Akiba become a paradise of Otaku. But it is very difficult to tell what is Otaku now, Otaku has been changging. Japanese have some negative imagie of otaku, but it may be changed in the future.
15:22 - Okachimachi
An old and very powerful market "Ameyoko" town. But I don't like this town because it's always crowed.
After 3pm, we were so behind the schedule. Maybe to get train tickets at on each station as proof would take time. Prince Excell's leg was getting worse. He was worried he could not complete it this time. However, quitting on the halfway point was really difficult. All of us know if we quit, we would be filled with self-loathing. So, our speed was a little slower than before.
We missed the timing to eat lunch. Okachimachi, Ueno, and Akihabara were was so crowded, and it seemed a loss of time to find a good place for lunch. The first-half round was already tough for us. ha ha ha
15:36 -Ueno
The National Science Museum, Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum, The National Museum of Western Art, and the Ueno zoo are there. In spring season Ueno is famous for its beautiful cherry blossoms and Ohanami party, butI passed Ueno park by this time because of the crowds.
16:01 - Uguisudani
Kan-eiji Temple, nearby, is home to the resting Tokugawa shoguns. Take a pleasant stroll from here to Negishidani and take in the rich atmosphere of
old Tokyo. Here is good guide site for this area.
On the way to the next station we took in a late lunch at a Korean Restaurant. Miho drank beer, I drank water. Talking to beer, in Japan fake beer = Happoshu is popular.
17:06 - Nippori
From here to the next station has some uphill climb. Around this area, you can find some very old candy stores. This is because there was a wholesale candy store market before.
17:35 - Nishi-nippori
You can see the next station Tabata from this Nishi-Nipppori. This must be the shortest distance between two stations on the Yamanote line.
17:38 - Tabata
At last the apex of the ascension from Uguisudani; it can only get easier from here on. Tabata is the place where many great authors lived.
The most famous author would be Ryunosuke Akutagawa, who wrote Rashomon.
18:11 - Komagome
Seifukuji has nice avenue of cherry blossoms and it's birthplace of the world famous Somei-yoshino cherry trees. All the cherry trees in Washington have their roots here.
18:26 - Sugamo
This place is often referred to as Grandma's Harajuku because many elders turn out to visit the plethora of stone Buddhist statues, togenuki-jizou. Here's the red underwear store that I wrote about before.!
18:46 - Otsuka
This is the junction to the TOEI Arakawa line (street car), a short line for splendid sightseeing. One of the historical places among this line is Zoshigaya Kishibojin. It is the Temple that has a God who "ate" children. Here is the story.
Miho's soles began to hurt around here, she said "I have never felt pain in my soles!" She tried cooling them down with a patch, but to no avail. It was getting worse and we had to walk slower. Dusk was beginning to come.
19:32 - Ikebukuro The Sunshine 60 was the highest building in Japan for long time. It has an aquarium, planetarium, shopping area, restraunt area, and a small amusement park named Nanja Town. Nanja town reproduces a "downtown in the 1960s"feel. There also is a "Fried Dumpling Studium" and "Dessert republic". By the way. I was working in this building befeor. Sometimes families visited the office area using office elevators, to save money on the entrance fee for observation. Ha ha ha, don't do that. :-)
20:06 - Mejiro
Gakushuuin University is in front of the station. The Imperial families go to this university, basically.
Miho and Prince Excel's condition finally really got worse, actually they looked like Frodo and Sam on the last mountain. :-p To reenergize ourselves we ate dessert at Jonathan's Family Restaurant. We three were gloomy, fatigued, and quiet. Maybe looked queer.
21:07 - Takadanobaba
Takadanobaba is a colleget town of Waseda University. My American friends can say "Takada no baba". It is hard to pronounce?
21:28 - Shin-okubo
Around the station is a Koreatown. Sometime I went there and get some Korean food items.
Shinjuku's skyscrapers are just ahead! In such night, they looked remarkably beautiful...! That was one of the reasons we started and ended in Shinjuku. The finish line was within our sights, it gave us energy.
21:54 - Shinjuku
This time "the Yamanote challenge" took 14 hours to complete. We bought tickets at each station and friends' legs and feet condition were deteriorating (especially around the 5 last stations), those would be the reason of delay. But it is okay. This gives new motivation for the next Yamanote challenge. Miho's tired face also had a sense of satisfaction on it.
I could have continued on for three more stations. I have no major wounds except for a couple of broken blisters. Miho and Prince Excel said they could not go out the next day. But I went to the gym and did one hour of exercise. Some call me the Terminator at work. Oh yes, yes, actually, I just replaced my eye and my right hand last month! :-)
Women are judged not only by their charm, but strength too. I hope so.
Hello there!!
My name is Joe and I am the Awareness Coordinator for Oxfam Japan IVG (An international Volunteer Group which helps raise global awareness anf also raises funds for Oxfam Japan).
You have inspired us to organise a big Yamanote Line walk in late November/early December. However we need your help. Do you have any maps which could help us with organising the route around the Yamanote line??
I am looking forward to your reply.
Many thanks to confirm.
Best regards,
Joe.
Posted by: Joe Pournovin | Wednesday, September 22, 2010 at 10:37 AM
Nice, fun article and good work with the walk. :)
The Yamanote Line walk is one of my favourite Tokyo "Long Walks" - I've done it twice now, though not one right after the other!
Going to the gym the day after the walk is quite impressive. 'Terminator' seems a good nickname ...
Posted by: Thomas | Wednesday, March 10, 2010 at 08:16 PM
Crazy!. My friend and I walked the Yamanote. not all at once however. We did it in sections..short sides first then top and bottom. The bottom is hard to follow. We walked from Ikebukuro to Ueno on the top and had to pass through parks, and even cemetary. The bottom was tough too..shimbashi to Shibuya..but it was night so hard to tell where the tracks were.
Posted by: | Wednesday, August 13, 2008 at 05:55 AM
In your opening paragraph you state that the Yamanote Loop runs at two minute intervals in the morning rush........not true. It runs at five minute intervals due to the dwell time at platforms required for loading/unloading. The shortest interval is off peak at three minutes. The usual interval during the day is four minutes.
I admire your tenacity in taking the walk. I'll stick to the trains.
Posted by: Rod Williams | Wednesday, June 13, 2007 at 04:37 PM